Hong Kong Tycoon Admits to Lack of Diploma
Thomas Crampton International Herald Tribune
Thursday, March 22, 2001
Richard Li Blames His Staff for False Claim of a Stanford Degree
HONG KONG The Internet billionaire Richard Li confirmed Thursday that he was not a graduate of Stanford University, as had been asserted by his company on its Web site and in statements issued to the press.
Mr. Li spoke in reaction to a report by this newspaper on Wednesday that had questioned the company assertion.
Speaking in an interview Thursday, Richard Li said he had never made any claim to be a Stanford graduate and instead blamed unnamed staff members of his company, Pacific Century CyberWorks, for the error.
While biographical references in the company's legal documents state that Mr. Li was educated at Stanford, press releases and the company Web site described him as a graduate of the prestigious California institution.
"The mistake is our staff," Mr. Li said. "Absolutely under no circumstances did I change it from educated to graduated."
References to his holding a degree were dropped from the Web site on Tuesday afternoon, hours after the IHT made queries to Mr. Li and the company.
Mr. Li said that he left Stanford without a degree because of a botched attempt to graduate early.
Mr. Li said he had planned to finish his degree early in his fourth year, in December 1987, and discovered too late that he fell just short of enough credits to graduate.
Having already committed himself to work at Gordon Capital, a Canadian investment bank in which his father was then a major shareholder, Mr. Li said, he felt compelled to leave the university without a diploma.
"I thought I would come back and finish it up, and then I never did," he said. "One thing led to the other in terms of work, and things kept moving."
Mr. Li declined to speculate on how references about his being a Stanford graduate first appeared, a few years after he left the university and nearly a decade before Pacific Century CyberWorks was founded.
One profile, published in 1992 by The Associated Press, described him as a "brash 25-year-old graduate of Stanford University." Mr. Li said he was absolutely certain that all legal documents related to his companies had accurately described his educational qualifications.
"With all the filings all through the years I am sure of their accuracy," Mr. Li said, adding that investors must decide for themselves on the significance of his newly clarified educational status. "It is up to the shareholders and the investment public to judge it on their own," he said.
Mr. Li's father, the businessman Li Ka-shing, defended his son Thursday after being peppered with questions at a news conference to announce earnings for the conglomerates Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd.
"Richard is not a liar," Mr. Li's father said. "Richard is absolutely not someone who tells lies."
Shares in Pacific Century CyberWorks have plunged in recent months and fell 2.67 percent on Thursday to close at HK$3.65.
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